Trade shows, Fairs, Home Shows and such are common all over the nation.  For a small amount of money you can have your small business seen by the masses that come by your little booth.  They can talk to you, and hopefully buy your stuff.

But what if the product you sell is something that mostly businesses buy?  This makes a problem for you, if you get a booth at the show almost everyone who comes by will not own a business that you can sell to, you will spend a lot of time and money with little return.

I looked at this as a bootstrapping entrepreneur and thought this way.  There are 100’s of businesses at this show, most of them have the owner or decistion maker stuck in their booth and on a slow day they have very little to do.  So I figure out which day will likely be the slowest then I go there, I take my business cards and some flyers and start talking to business owners.

Today I went to a home show, I saw a few existing customer but I spent most of my time looking for companies that I could talk to about my products and services.  Of course I sell computers and web design.  Over 20% of the companies I talked to had an imediate need for one of my products or services.  I got their cards, wrote notes on the back and left the event a few hours later with 15 companies that I can call and do business with.  Where else can you make so many quality leads in such a short time, for free while having fun?

I have been doing this with great success for a few years.  A few times I have even had people write me checks on the spot.

So if you are lacking for leads for your business consider this as a great bootstap way to make some instant customers.